As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

At almost any given time, there’s an unusual bird that has gotten lost. Perhaps it missed some migration cue or was blown off course by winds. For example, this week, a Eurasinan mistle thrush showed up in New Brunswick, the first time this bird has been seen on the continent. An irruption of snowy owls recently flocked to the northern U.S., creatures that normally live and breed in much colder climates. For each of these events, there are legions of bird enthusiasts ready and willing to drive for a few hours—or even a few days—to catch a glimpse of these avian vagrants.

The remnants of an ancient penguin that stood as tall as a human have been found encased in rock on a beach in New Zealand.

Fossil hunters chanced upon the prehistoric bones in sedimentary rock that formed 55m to 60m years ago on what is now Hampden beach in Otago in the country’s South Island.

Measurements of the partial skeleton show that the flightless bird weighed about 100kg and had a body length of 1.77 metres (5ft 10in), equal to the average height of an American man. Emperor penguins, the tallest penguin species alive today, reach only 1.2 metres when fully grown.

Penguins evolved from flying birds tens of millions of years ago, but lost the ability to get airborne and became accomplished swimmers instead. Once grounded, some penguin species became much larger, growing from about 80cm tall to twice the size.

Thursday, 28 December 2017

The golden-crowned manakin was found by scientists to be an “incredibly rare” hybrid after analyzing its DNA. What makes this bird from the Amazon Rainforest so special? ( Dysmorodrepanis | Wikimedia Commons )

After more than 50 years of studying the golden-crowned manakin, scientists have finally identified it to be an extremely rare hybrid that evolved to form its own distinct species.

Discovery of the golden-crowned manakin was made by Brazilian scientists Helmut Sick and Raimundo Costa in July 1957. They collected three adult males from a small tributary to the left of the upper Rio Cururu-ri located east of the Brazilian Amazon.

The holotype of the species is kept at the Museu Nacional Rio de Janeiro, while two specimens were sent to the American Museum of the National History and Museum für Naturkunde Alexander Humboldt.

Confusion Clouds Study Of Rare Amazon Bird Species

The golden-crowned manakin was formerly known as pipra. It was later changed to Lepidothrix vilasboasi, a name that pays tribute to the Villas-Boas brothers. The siblings were well-regarded activists known for their work with indigenous peoples of Brazil.

Although it was shot at,
authorities on Tuesday were carrying out tests to determine the exact cause of
death of one of the few Griffon vultures on the island whose carcass was found
at Zapalo beach in Episkopi, Limassol.

Conservation group BirdLife
Cyprus said an x-ray showed the presence of pellets but a necropsy was also
underway to confirm whether it was a shooting that killed the bird or if it
died of poisoning, the most frequent cause of death of vultures in Cyprus.

BirdLife said preliminary tests
showed the bird most probably died from the shooting but more tests were
underway to check for evidence of poisoning.

“This x-ray alone, however,
paints a gloomy picture for the species,” BirdLife said. “Why was it even shot
at? With only around 20 vultures left on the island, each death comes at a
great cost for the species’ survival.”

“Although it is early days for
the chick and the risks are high, we are hopeful he or she will continue to do
well and fledge later in summer,” Mr Drew said.

Fairy terns nest on shell and
sand banks just above high tide, which makes them vulnerable to rats, stoats
and other predators, disturbance by people, 4WD vehicles and dogs. They are
also at risk from stormy weather and very high tides.

“The birds cannot be transported
to predator-free offshore islands because they are very particular about where
they nest, and the chicks are not raised in captivity as they have to be looked
after by their parents while they learn how to fish successfully” he said.

A wayward summer tanager is being
observed for the first time in Metro Vancouver — and is attracting a throng of
birders from around the region.

This particular summer tanager is
an immature male and should be wintering in much warmer climes to the south,
but it showed up Saturday morning in Wendy Kahle’s backyard is southwest
Vancouver.

The colourful bird has only been
recorded six times in B.C. and never before in Metro Vancouver, according to
the B.C. Rare Bird Alert website.

“I put some peanuts out as I do
every day,” Kahle said. “I glanced out and noticed it was very different from
all the other birds I usually see.”

She took a photo and posted it on
a birding Facebook page, where it was quickly identified and posted on the rare
bird website. Within a couple of hours birders were showing up to view the bird
on her property, but from the perspective of the Arbutus Greenway or Avery
Avenue, near Southwest Marine Drive.

Three karearea chicks were set up
in their new home in Martinborough to help with pest control on vineyards, but
also as part of a conservation effort to restore numbers.

In flight the
kārearea resembles a stealth bomber.

And with rapid wing beats and a
top speed of about 389kmh they are wreaking havoc on birds that blight
vineyards in the premier wine producing region of Martinborough.

Three more of the native falcons
have been re-homed at Palliser Estate as part of the area's fighting squadron.

At 28 days old the chicks have
reached adult weight and will will grow adult feathers in the coming weeks.

At just 29-days-old the kārearea
were settled into their new home at Clouston Vineyard on December 11 as
part of a programme that combines pest control with conservation.

Palliser Estate employees have
noticed a significant reduction in thrush, blackbird and finch numbers since
the falcon programme began in 2014. They also scare seasonal birds like
starlings.

Behind the initiative which has
seen 10 birds released over four years are Martinborough resident and former
Palliser Estate employee Jane Lenting, Wingspan National Bird of Prey Centre
and Palliser Vineyards.

Just two were lost, one to
predation and one to electrocution.

Lenting had heard of a similar
effort in Marlborough while she was employed at Palliser and suggested they do
the same.

Pūkaha Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre
has received 500 new self-setting traps thanks to funding from Pub Charity and
a partnership with trap manufacturer Goodnature. Staff are excited at the
possibilities, with traps installed previously having already made a marked
difference.

Cutting edge trap technology
is boosting birdsong and helping efforts to restore the New Zealand
bush to its former glory.

Conservationists hope to restore fauna
to levels which prompted botanist Joseph Banks to write in
1769 that the New Zealand bush had "certainly the most melodious wild
musick I have ever heard". This technology could well bring the dream
closer.

Pūkaha Mt Bruce National Wildlife
Centre conservation manager Todd Jenkinson said the addition of 500
A-24 Goodnature self-setting predator traps at the centre, north of
Masterton, would go a long way to increasing the birdsong at the centre and
surrounding areas.

The centre already had
160 A-24 traps throughout the 942-hectare reserve and 2000 hectare
buffer zone and he had noticed the difference they had provided in the
number of birds that could be seen and heard.

"There has been a noticeable
increase in rifleman, whitehead, grey warbler, shining cuckoo and long
tailed cuckoo since we have had the A-24 traps on the reserve.

McALLEN — Avid birder and author
Sheri L. Williamson was lounging in her Bisbee, Arizona, living room this
weekend when her husband said the words: “green-breasted mango in
McAllen.”

The re-creation of her response
can only be described as a yelp of optimism.

To the hummingbird enthusiast,
the phrase represented a chance to check off a rare species from the American
Birding Association checklist.

This bird hadn’t been spotted in
the United States since 2009. Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center urban
ecologist John Brush observed the hummingbird Saturday morning and spread word
of the green-breasted mango, eventually reaching Williamson’s husband’s
Facebook feed.

Williamson delayed booking her
flight, fearing the rare-bird sighting would be a one-off.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -
Puffins face existential challenges, but the little birds found a new role in
Maine this summer: baby boomers.

The 2017 nesting season was the
most productive on record for a group of vulnerable Maine puffins, scientists
with the Audubon Society said. The Atlantic puffins are small seabirds with an
awkward walk and colorful beaks that are popular with eco-tourists.

The birds are at the southern
edge of their breeding range in Maine, and the Eastern Egg Rock colony in
Muscongus Bay is the subject of much study. Audubon reported that the colony
increased from 150 to 172 pairs during this year's nesting season.

That is the highest single-year
increase since puffins recolonized the little island in 1981, said Steve Kress,
a biologist and vice president for bird conservation with Audubon.

"It was an excellent
year," Kress said. "There's a reason to be happy, and a reason to be
concerned because there still is a long-term trend toward warming waters."

Sunday, 24 December 2017

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) --
Three black-necked stork chicks have been hatched in Kulen Promtep Wildlife
Sanctuary (KPWS) in the Northern Plains in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province,
giving hope to the future conservation of this rare species in the country, a
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) statement said on Friday.

The black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) is a very
rare bird species in Asia and is listed on the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as "near threatened", the
statement said, adding that an estimated 15,000 to 35,000 individuals exist
globally, with the vast majority of them in Australia.

"Less than 10 pairs are
known to exist in Cambodia, the only country in Southeast Asia where the bird
is regularly recorded," it said.

Yoeun Yerb, a WCS-supported nest
protector, said he was happy to see these three black-necked stork chicks
because they were a rare bird, not often seen in the forest.

"We achieved our goal of
guarding the nest and strongly hope that others will help safeguard this
species," he said.

The Bird Nest Protection Program
in the Northern Plains of Cambodia is a payment structure designed to combat
the threat of egg and chick collection, the statement said. Under the scheme,
local people living in the protected areas are offered conditional payments if
they successfully locate, monitor and protect nests until the birds fledge.

Scientists have revealed new
details about dinosaur feathers and enabled scientists to further refine what
is potentially the most accurate depiction of any dinosaur species to date.

A University of Bristol-led study
has revealed new details about dinosaur feathers and enabled scientists to
further refine what is potentially the most accurate depiction of any dinosaur
species to date.

Birds are the direct descendants
of a group of feathered, carnivorous dinosaurs that, along with true birds, are
referred to as paravians -- examples of which include the
infamous Velociraptor.

Researchers examined, at high
resolution, an exceptionally-preserved fossil of the crow-sized paravian
dinosaur Anchiornis -- comparing its fossilised feathers to those of
other dinosaurs and extinct birds.

The feathers around the body
of Anchiornis, known as contour feathers, revealed a newly-described,
extinct, primitive feather form consisting of a short quill with long,
independent, flexible barbs erupting from the quill at low angles to form two
vanes and a forked feather shape.

The recovery of the wild turkey
is a great restoration success story. But concerns have been rising over the
specter of declines in some areas. Lack of reliable tools to estimate abundance
of turkeys has increased uncertainty for managers. So wildlife researchers have
investigated how to harvest wild turkeys sustainably when information is
imperfect.

As American families sit down for
the traditional turkey dinner this Thanksgiving, some will be giving thanks for
a wild bird that is truly free range. Meleagris gallopavo, the wild
turkey, has steadily gained in popularity with hunters since successful
restoration efforts put it back on the table in the around the new millenium,
bucking the trend of declining participation in hunting throughout the United
States. The distinguished native bird is now second in popularity only to white
tailed deer.

The recovery of the wild turkey
is a great restoration success story. But concerns have been rising over the
specter of declines in some areas. Lack of reliable tools to estimate abundance
of turkeys has increased uncertainty for managers. So wildlife researchers at
Michigan State University investigated how to harvest wild turkeys sustainably
when information is imperfect.

New study provides surprising
insights into how crows manufacture their hooked foraging tools

Date: December 7, 2017

Source: University of St. Andrews

Biologists at the University of
St Andrews have discovered how New Caledonian crows make one of their most
sophisticated tool designs -- sticks with a neatly-shaped hooked tip.

New Caledonian crows are the only
species besides humans known to manufacture hooked tools in the wild. Birds
produce these remarkable tools from the side branches of certain plants,
carefully 'crafting' a crochet-like hook that can be used for snagging insect
prey.

The study, published in Current Biology today (7 December),
reveals how crows manage to fashion particularly efficient tools, with
well-defined 'deep' hooks.

Friday, 22 December 2017

An interdisciplinary team is
using a covert sound-based approach, worthy of an avian CSI, to study the link
between crows' calls and their behavior.

What are crows saying when their
loud cawing fills a dark winter's evening? Despite the inescapable ruckus,
nobody knows for sure. Birds congregate daily before and after sleep, and they
make some noise, but what might be happening in those brains is a mystery.

Curious about these raucous
exchanges, researchers at the University of Washington Bothell are listening
in. They are placing equipment on the roof of their building -- a meeting place
for some of the thousands of crows that sleep in nearby campus trees -- and
using a sort of computerized eavesdropping to study the relationship between
calls and the birds' behavior.

"With audio alone, our team
is able to localize and record the birds remotely, and in dim light that makes
this situation less suitable for video tracking," said Shima Abadi, an
assistant professor at UW Bothell's School of Science, Technology, Engineering
& Mathematics. "It's still a challenging task, but we can use the
audio signals to look for patterns and learn more about what the birds may be
communicating."

Rising temperatures will result
in "significant changes" in the composition and distribution of our
bird communities.

The stark finding is contained in
a report published today entitled The State of the UK's Birds.

It said many of the UK's species
are already being affected by climate change as a result of average summer
temperatures increasing by one degree centigrade since the 1980s.

Dr Neil McCulloch, an
ornithologist at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs,
said: "This year's report summarises the evidence that climate change is
having an increasing impact on our bird populations.

"This means we can expect to
see significant changes in the composition and distribution of Northern
Ireland's bird communities and in their behaviour.

The dusky thrush's appearance
differs slightly from that of its North American counterparts. It lacks the
bright red or orange breast of a varied thrush, or robin, and has
"pale," ''distinctive" lines around its eyes, Goff said.

Word of Goff's sighting spread
quickly and enthusiasts from all over flocked to the Crescent Harbor in hopes
of catching a glimpse.

One out-of-state enthusiast even
flew in to see the bird, Goff said. That was Yve Morell, who is on a quest to
achieve an American Birding Association Big Year, an informal competition in
the birding community to identify the largest number of birds within a year.

First spotting of Amur Falcon, a
pigeon-sized migratory bird, in Kannur

Migratory bird Amur Falcon has
been spotted for the first time at Madayipara here. The bird was sighted by
Jayan Thomas, an ophthalmologist and bird enthusiast, on November 29. The
sighting was confirmed by ornithologists C. Sashikumar and J. Praveen.

Amur Falcon is a small
pigeon-sized bird weighing just 150 grams. Dr. Thomas said the bird species was
first reported from the Amur river basin near Mongolia. In November/December
each year the birds fly from Mongolia to northeast India, covering 5,600 km.
Then they continue their journey to the wintering grounds in South Africa by
flying another 22,000 km via central and western India and then back to
Mongolia.

A gory history

Mr. Sashikumar said though Amur
Falcon had been sighted in some parts of the State earlier, it was for the
first time that the bird was spotted in Kannur. He said the bird had a gory
past as it had been killed in large numbers for meat in Nagaland. Steps to
protect Amur Falcons were launched in that State in 2012, he noted.

Thursday, 21 December 2017

HARLINGEN — More than 200 brown
pelicans were rescued by volunteers along State Highway 48 Thursday, which was
in stark contrast to a vehicular massacre of the birds one year ago.

The “Pelican Team” was created
following two storm-filled days last December after cold fronts created
conditions forcing pelicans onto the roadway that stretches from Port Isabel to
Brownsville. Between 60 and 100 birds perished under the wheels of vehicles
along a stretch of highway with a 75-mph speed limit.

This year between a dozen and two
dozen birds were lost, but the numbers were far fewer due to the efforts of the
Pelican Team as well as the Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas General Land
Office, Texas game wardens, Good Samaritans and the Port Isabel Volunteer Fire
Department.

Thiruvananthapuram: The recent
survey conducted at seven sites in the city found that the number of bird
species in the city has come down.

As many as 147 species of birds including rare and migratory birds were spotted
during the survey carried out as part of Annual Bird Race 2017, organized by
WWF-India with the support of Kerala forests and wildlife department.

"Over the years there is a decline in the number of bird species,"
said WWF-India state director Renjan Mathew Varghese. Construction activities,
dredging and pollution in wetlands are the reasons for this, according to
experts.

"The wetland bird 'Indian coot' used to be seen in groups at Akkulam
earlier. But during the last three years due to the construction activity,
dredging and pollution, such wading birds have started disappearing," said
WWF-India education officer A K Sivakumar.